What Can We Do About the Outbreak?

There is nothing we can do to stop the bark beetle outbreak. The beetle populations will remain at exceptionally high levels until all of the vulnerable trees are consumed. After the food resources are used up, the beetles will experience a population crash and their numbers will return to the normally low levels present in the forest prior to the outbreak. The forests will recover in time. Seeds and seedlings already present on the forest floor will mature to replace many of the trees lost to the bark beetles.